Travel Guides

Royal Ploughing Ceremony

A Thai traditional ceremony that is popular with tourists and
attended by the King is the annual Ploughing Ceremony, which draws
many of the country's farmers to Bangkok to usher in the start of
the new rice-growing season. The ceremony is held in the heart of
the city and dates back more than 2,500 years. The chief event is a
procession in which a red and gold sacred plough is drawn by
flower-bedecked bulls, followed by drummers in green costumes, and
others blowing conch shells or carrying baskets filled with
rice-seed. After the ploughing and ritual feeding of the bulls,
rice seed is scattered and the watching crowds rush onto the field
to gather some grains for good luck, and a good harvest.